By Michael Amakor
Chief Scribe, FightKings.Com
September 30, 2014.
Fight Fans,
It’s been a while since my last monthly report. There has been so much boxing that I ran out of gas in the 7th round of July – unforgivable, as we expect better conditioning from the fighters we watch – but even the president of the BWAA experienced something of the sorts and is turning in his badge at the end of the season, so I can forgive myself.
The good news is, I got back my 2nd wind in the final seconds of the 9th round and will keep scribbling to the 12th round. The highlight of September was the well promoted rematch between Mayweather and Maidana which produced no fireworks as Mayweather took no chances and played it safely to the final round in decisively decisioning Maidana in front of a star studded crowd in Vegas. The fallout from that performance is the growing sense that Mayweather will take no risks and is more interested in winning than going for broke to knockout out any opponent. Fans were not pleased and may not tune in for another boring 12 rounder unless its Pacquaio, but that’s another story altogether.
In the women’s division, Braekhus unified all the champions to become the undisputed champion in her division; we raise our hats to her, a female Tyson at last.
There were many other bouts which passed by in a blur and we closed out this round with a bang as promising new prospect Artur Beterbiev blasted out former Lt hwy champ Tavoris Cloud in just two rounds.
Long time defending champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk finally lost his WBC Cruiserweight title that he won and has defended since 2010 to Grigory Drozd (39-1, 27KO’s) in an upset while Lebedev (26-2, 20 KOs) crushed Kolodziej in two rounds to retain his WBA cruiser belt. The sad thing about that card featuring these fights was that it was not televised in the US which is one of the many reasons boxing is not as mainstream as it should be, it’s too tribal, with the fans and networks only caring to watch fighters the know.
Arthur Abraham barely escaped with his titles against Paul Smith in a fight many thought he lost. In a shocking fall from grace, former champions Sam Peters, Mayorga all returned to the ring against walking stiffs in fights not televised on primetime TV, but we are glad to see them return in knockout fashion.
The world of boxing also mourned the passing of old time fight announcer Ed Darian and promoter Dan Goosen. Typical of the sportsmanship displayed by fighters after the 12th round, ring magazine 168 pound champ Andre Ward who was in litigation to sever his contract with Dan nevertheless eulogized him and mourned his passing, is he a class act or is he wise beyond his years, you tell me.
That is it for now, we head into an Oktoberfest of Boxing. Continue to Visit FightKings.com for your boxing news!!! 9/30/14
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
